A/N: So it's been a while... a very long while. I don't really know where all that time went. I gotta say, I guess I became a bit disheartened. I think maybe it might have something to do with the lack of instant gratification I have received for spending hours writing each post. Don;t get me wrong, I am so grateful to everyone who has reviewed so far.. I just look at some other stories and see their stats and can't work out what I've done wrong. Perhaps it is a boring story? I know many of you want me to steer away from the original, but I'm trying to make a point here: the butterfly effect of a tiny change can make a massive one. I promise it will diverge. Promise promise.

Chapter 9

Harry never saw Colin Creevey the next morning; curtains had been drawn, giving the petrified boy some privacy. However nothing stayed quiet for long in Hogwarts and, much like Mrs Norris, rumours of the next victim spread fast. By dinner, the whole school knew. For Harry's part, he could not feel the same levels of sympathy and sorrow that his housemates were verbalising; the boy had been an idiot. It was somewhat hypocritical - Harry himself had spent many a night wandering the halls after curfew - but he had always felt justified in his late night excursions.

But to visit Harry in the Hospital Wing? Stupid boy.

The young Gryffindor found himself forcing his expression to match those of his housemates and nodding at all the right moments whenever conversation returned to the fate of the foolish boy lying frozen on a bed upstairs.

Ron and Hermione, for their parts, were all the more determined to complete the polyjuice potion. Their desperation was such that the trio had almost been caught by Snape when they raided his private stores during a Potions class. He could not prove it was them who had released the Filibuster firework in the room, but Harry knew that he knew.

The closer they got to Yule, Harry began to wonder why they were even doing it. He could not believe that Malfoy was the Heir of Slytherin. Yes, he would talk the talk and had obscene amounts of prejudice towards anyone inferior to him… which was everyone, in his mind. But there was something not quite falling into place with it.

He had signed up to remain in Hogwarts over the holidays (because he had no where else to go, of course), but at the same time, when conversation returned to tricking Draco into revealing himself, Harry, who had been barely involved in the potion-making process anyway, steeled himself before telling his best friends to do it without him.

"What?!" Ron yelled, and a number of heads in the Common Room turned in curiosity. Hermione kicked the redhead, who continued in a harsh whisper, "Harry, c'mon! We've been working on this for weeks!"

"It's a waste of time, Ron. All of this effort, almost getting expelled to find out what we already know. Draco isn't the Heir of Slytherin." Harry did his best to keep his voice level and calm, despite the small ball of white-hot fire that was slowly growing in his stomach.

"You don't know that, Harry!"

"And even if he is," Harry continued as if Ron hadn't spoken, "What do you plan to do with that knowledge? Walk up to Dumbledore? admit to risking the lives of an entire class of students with that firework? Admit to stealing from a professor? Admit to using that damned potion? The way we're using it, if it's even not illegal then it definitely isn't lawful."

"We won't be punished if we catch him!" The raven-haired by closed his eyes and began to count to ten.

Hermione, always the observant one, remained silent, and just watched him. She had noticed that Harry was not himself. More deflated, but at the same time… more angry. His emotions seemed to have two binaries: apathy or anger. "Leave it, Ron. We can do it alone." Pushing him would not bring him closer again.

"But Hermione -"

"No." She murmured, still watching the other boy, "It probably makes more sense if it's just the two of us anyway. We can become Crabbe and Goyle. I wasn't sure who I was going to clone… so this works out better." It was probably even true.

Ron opened his mouth to retort, but was stopped as Dean and Seamus came rushing over, "Have you guys heard? They're starting a Dueling Club!" said Seamus. "First meeting tonight! I wouldn't mind dueling lessons; they might come in handy one of these days…"

"What, you reckon Slytherin's monster can duel?" mocked Ron, but the expression on his face showed clear interest. "When is it, anyway?"

"Tomorrow night, after dinner, in the great hall. You gonna come?"

Ron nodded, "Could be useful, why not?" he replied, turning Harry and Hermione, the previous conversation all but forgotten as his eyes lit up in excitement. "Let's go!"

"I wonder who'll be teaching us?" wondered Hermione as they entered the great hall late after dinner, and edged around the excitedly chattering crowd. "Someone told me Flitwick was a dueling champion when he was young - maybe it'll be him?"

"As long as it's not-" Harry began, but his statement was cut short as his eyes widened in horror: Gilderoy Lockhart, looking as resplendently pompous as ever, was climbing the raised platform in the middle of the room, followed by none other than Snape.

Lockhart waved an arm for silence and called, "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent! Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions - for full details, see my published works." Harry rolled his eyes. the more time he spent around this idiot, the less he liked him. His mood worsened when he looked around the room and saw that ever girl - including Hermione - was staring at him with a lovestruck gaze.

"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," said Lockhart, flashing a wide smile. "He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry - you'll still have your Potions Master when I'm through with him, never fear!?

"Wouldn't it be good if they finished each other off?" Ron muttered in Harry's ear. The other boy didn't acknowledge his friend, more interested by the look on the Potions Master's face. Snape's upper lip was curling. Harry wondered why Lockhart was still smiling; if Snape had been looking at him like that he'd have been running as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

The first demonstration was a short one: a quick spell of, "Expelliarmus!" from Snape was all it took for Lockhart to he flown across the room, into the wall and then ended up sprawled on the floor. From the mutterings of the older students, Harry discovered that the spell was just supposed to disarm a student not send him flying. Was Lockhart really that incompetent?

With a groan, Lockhart got unsteadily to his feet, looking frazzled. "Well, there you have it!" He called, though with slightly less bravado than last time, as he tottered back onto the platform. "That was a Disarming Charm - as you see, I've lost my wand - ah, thank you, Miss Brown - yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy - however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see…"

Snape, though still smiling, was looking murderous. This time, Lockhart had noticed. Turning to the room, he announced that he wanted everyone to practice that spell and quickly began partnering up students closest to him.

Snape began doing the same and, with the same foul expression on his face, reached Harry, Ron and Hermione. He stared at them for a moment, lips curling in distaste. Ron got off easy, but Harry and Hermione were paired with Slytherins.

Malfoy strutted over, smirking. "Face your partners!" called Lockhart, once everyone had been paired up. He had moved back to the platform, but Snape did not move far from Harry and Malfoy. The look on his face clearly indicated that he was going to enjoy watching Harry being bested. "And bow!"

Lockhart then gave the command to begin. What ensued was chaos. Spells from all students flew everywhere - some reached their targets, others were flung far. Harry had no time to worry about what anyone else was doing, though. For the first time, Harry and Malfoy could fire any spell they liked at each other without repercussion. They were not taking the opportunity for granted.

"Stop! STOP!" Screamed Lockhart, and soon the room was back under control. A few Finites were cast on hexes still in effect (Harry being one of them), before Lockhart, a bit red in the face and flustered said, "I think Id better teach you how to block unfriendly spells,"

He glanced at Snape, whose black eyes glinted, and looked quickly. "How about Malfoy and Potter?" said Snape with a twisted smile. Yes, he had definitely enjoyed it.

With a grim expression, a resigned Harry climbed up onto the platform and, as Malfoy spoke to Snape, he turned with a skeptical expression towards Lockhart, waiting for any words of wisdom. As expected, the advice was useless. Harry turned away from him. From the smirk on Malfoy's face, Snape's advice had been much more helpful.

"On the count of three them!" Called Lockhart, "Three… two… one… go!" he shouted.

Before Harry had time to react, Malfoy raised his wand quickly and bellowed, "Serpensortia!" From the Slytherin's wand erupted a large black snake. It landed half way between them. Shocked, Harry took an involuntary step back, his wand hand falling to his side; he didn't know any spells to combat a snake.

His eyes never left the serpent as both teachers stepped forward to remove it. Lockhart got there first and hundreds of eyes in the room all looked up and back down as Lockhart's spell flung the snake a couple of feet into the air, only for it to land again. Now it was angry… and it was going for the nearest person to him.

A Hufflepuff boy, Justin Finch-Fletchley, stood rooted to the spot as the furious snake hissed, large ranges clearly on display. From the way the snake was now coiled, everyone in the room knew that it was posed to strike at any moment.

Without thinking, Harry stepped forward, towards the snake, "Leave him alone!" He called as he raised his wand in his shaking hand. If nothing else, he could cast the freezing charm if he had to. But the plans were unnecessary. The scale backed off, lowering its head and focusing on Harry instead, though he did not look ready to attack anymore. Harry felt the fear fall away from him, knowing the snake would not attack anyone else. He looked up at Justin, grinning, expecting to see Justin looking relieved, or puzzled, or even grateful - but certainly not angry and scared.

"What do you think you're playing at, Potter!?" he shouted, and before Harry could say anything, Justin had turned and stormed out of the hall.

Harry glanced around the room. From his raised position, he could easily see everyone'e expressions. Most were ranging between shocked and scared. Even the Slytherins were looking at him with apprehension.

Snape stepped forward and waved his wand. The snake vanished. Harry stared at the space where the snake had just been and then looked up to meet the Potions Master's eyes. Snape, too, was looking at Harry in an unexpected way: it was a shrewd and calculating look, and Harry didn't like it.

He could hear muttering around the room and Harry took a few steps back, throat dry. "Come on," said Ron's voice in his ear, "Move. Come on, mate." His too best friends flanked him on either side as they left the room; crowds of students moved silently out of the way, creating a path to let them through, all still staring.

The Gryffindor Common Room, thankfully, was empty. Once in the privacy of this space, Ron rounded on Harry, "You're a Parselmouth? What the hell, Harry?"

Harry just stared, unsure of what to say. Hermione, who looked just as clueless, whispered, "What's a Parselmouth?"

"He can talk to snakes!" Ron all but yelled, waving his arm at Harry, who was now resting on the arm of a chair. All of a sudden, his legs felt weaker as the gravity of the situation fell upon him. There was a glint in Ron's eyes which Harry now understood: it was the same look that Draco gave to Hermione.

"Look," Harry began, rubbing his temples as he tried to process what was happening, "What's the problem? If I hadn't told that snake to not attack Justin-"

"Yeah? Well all we heard was snake-language. Hissing, harry, you were bloody hissing at it! You could have been saying anything." Ron's tone was disbelieving and… well it was almost hateful.

"Well I wasn't was I?! D'you want to tell me what's wrong with stopping a massive snake biting off Justin's head?" Harry shouted.

"This is why you're not interested in outing Malfoy, isn't it? This is why you know it's not him." Ron continued on his tirade, his face getting more and more red. "You're the Heir of Slytherin."

"What's that got to do with anything? What does it matter if I can talk to snakes?"

"It matters," whispered Hermione who, despite her muggle-born status, knew much more about the Wizarding World and its customs than Harry did, "because being able to talk to snakes was what Salazar Slytherin was famous for. That's why the symbol of Slytherin House is a serpent."

Harry's jaw dropped in Horror. "What? you don't think I…" Harry's voice trailed off as he took in Ron's expression. That is exactly what he thought.

"I'm going to get rid of the poly juice potion. We don't need it anymore." Ron muttered, eyes narrowed as he stared at Harry for a long moment before turning and stalking from the room.

Hermione stared helplessly after her friend, but made no move to follow him. When she turned around, she saw Harry's expression had darkened. "Do you think the same as me, Hermione?" He whispered.

"I… Harry I don't know," she replied, wringing her hands anxiously, "We didn't grow up in this world. Ron's learnt stories and culture through osmosis… for him, this is all he knows."

"I didn't ask for you to excuse his behaviour, Hermione. I asked if you agreed."

"Well if you're asking if I am scared of you, then no, and I don't think you opened the Chamber of Secrets," she returned haughtily, "Nor do I hate you… not that I think Ron hates you!" she hastily added at the flash in Harry's eyes. "But… well Harry, Salazar Slytherin lived a thousand years go. For all we know, you could be his Heir."